There has been significant growth and developments in domestic applications of fracking during well completion operations. Special downwell equipment and downhole tools have been introduced to support and promote multi-zone production and during fracking operations, but a problem that has persisted is having the capability to successfully isolate multiple production zones using appropriate packers but without inhibiting normal fluid flow downhole. For example, industry standard inflatable packers have limited capability for achieving expansion of an implicated rubber element without unduly increasing packer outside diameter. It would be particularly advantageous in the downhole art to provide inflatable packers that effectuate prerequisite expansion to sufficiently isolate production zones to prevent hydrocarbons flow from one zone or stage to another.
Regardless of whether particular zones are producing or not, it is well known to be counterproductive for hydrocarbons to flow downhole or uphole from one zone into another, rather than to just flow uphole or even downhole. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that such zones or stages are purposefully separated from each other by properly emplacing packers or via such control tools as an inflow control devices to avoid interference with intended flow of hydrocarbons. That is, as is well known in the downhole art, there should be no communication between different zones.
Accordingly, what is needed is a permanent production inflatable packer that precludes interference from different hydrocarbon producing zones, on the basis of inherently having a smaller outer diameter than such production packers known in the art. It will be appreciated that such smaller diameter production packer prevents occurrence of damage thereto while being moved into place downhole. For instance, prior art packers tend to become stuck to virtually any of a plethora of wellbore obstructions which is especially troublesome under circumstances in which well clearance could be tight between the packer's outside diameter and the adjacent wellbore wall.
As will be elucidated hereinafter, once an embodiment of the instant inflatable permanent production packer is installed downhole typically avoiding well wall contact because of its significantly smaller outside diameter and simultaneously having minimized the chance of getting stuck while being emplaced and set within the wellbore, the rubber members swell to a greater extent than has heretofore been achieved in the art, and thereby precludes and blocks any uphole flow of hydrocarbons from a lower reservoir uphole and subsequently into an upper reservoir. Instead, flow of hydrocarbons proceeds within the inflatable packer tool, not within the annulus between the tool and the wellbore. Hence, it will be seen that embodiments of the present invention fulfill a crucial production packer prerequisite by facilitating proper placement downhole and then, once being properly emplaced, precluding interference between production zones. That is, unlike inflatable packers common in the art, embodiments hereof would be unlikely to be prematurely set downhole because of a dual activation fluid pressure threshold, thereby avoiding the necessity of fishing out the tool and possibly consequently causing damage thereto and, indeed, to other nearby tools that have been emplaced downhole.
These and other known deficiencies in the downhole art have continued to limit the functionality of commonly used packer tools. Accordingly, these limitations and disadvantages of the prior art are overcome with the present invention, wherein improved means and techniques are provided which are especially useful for effectively isolating production zones.